Coburn: 'No Realistic Expectation that the Gang of Six Plan Is Ever Gonna Accomplish Anything...'

Jeffrey H. Anderson

July 21, 2011 3:27 PM

Senator Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), a member of the so-called Gang of Six, slams the Senate for dodging votes and offers support for the House Republicans’ recently passed legislation to raise the debt limit in exchange for cutting, capping, and balancing federal spending. The House plan is the only actual legislation that has been proposed — let alone passed — so far (whether by the White House, the Senate, or the House) that would raise the debt limit.

Coburn says that “the fact is you can’t solve our problem unless you do what ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ wants to do. So, it doesn’t matter what the polls are. We’ve got to fix our country, and this is the only viable plan right now that will do that, and I will bet you a Porterhouse steak if it lands on his desk, he [President Obama] will sign this puppy….That’s how good his veto threat is.”

Asked by a reporter about the proposal — not actual legislation — that has been advanced by his own Gang of Six, Coburn replied that “there’s no realistic expectation that the Gang of Six plan is ever gonna accomplish anything by the time we need to.”